Funding

Tax Day Turns to Funding Day for Some: LearnVest Raises $28 Million, The Currency Cloud Pulls in $10 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, LearnVest, The Currency Cloud

Most of us know April 15 as Tax Day, but for three Finovate alums, today is about a different flow of money than a tax return. Aside from Betterment’s announcement of its $32 million round (see our post from this morning), LearnVest pulled in $28 million in Series D funding, while The Currency Cloud garnered $10 million in Series B.

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LearnVest, a personal financial management and planning platform and service
    • New funding: $28 million Series D
    • Investors: Northwestern Mutual Capital, Accel Partners, and American Express Ventures
    • Total Funding: $69 million
    • Founded: 2007
    • Headquarters: New York, NY

LearnVest will use the funding to boost hiring efforts at its Arizona-based Expert Hub and to scale its LearnVest at Work channel, which won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2013.

Check out its Best of Show-winning FinovateFall 2013 demo video:

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The Currency Cloud, a company that powers international payments with its API that enables secure, global payments
    • New funding: $10 million
    • Investors: Atlas Venture, Anthem Venture Partners, Notion Capital, XAnge Private Equity, Silicon Valley Bank
    • Total funding: $17 million
    • Founded: 2012
    • Headquarters: London

The Currency Cloud will use the funding to expand its focus on the UK and Europe to a more international realm, specifically into the the U.S.

Check out The Currency Cloud’s demo from FinovateEurope 2014, where it debuted its new e-wallet functionality and user interface.

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Kabbage Brings in $270 Million in Debt Financing to Provide Small Businesses with Funding of Their Own

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Kabbage

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Further highlighting Forbes’ point that the traditional banker is dead, small business financing company Kabbage announced today it received a revolving, 3-year line of debt financing, totaling $270 million.

The funds, which were provided by Guggenheim Securities, will be used to supply small businesses with working capital, both in the U.S. and internationally.

This new installment comes a year after the Atlanta-based company received $75 million in debt financing from Victory Park Capital and Thomvest Ventures.

Kabbage has seen an increasing demand for small business financing, both for web-based businesses and brick-and-mortar stores. The Wall Street Journal commented on its growth, reporting:

“In the last 15 or so months, default rates have dropped by more than 50%…. while Kabbage’s business has grown five-fold. The company aims to provide $1 billion in credit to businesses next year.”

Rob Frohwein, CEO, hinted that growth has been so dramatic that the company expects to pull in more financing soon. In an interview with TechCrunch, Frohwein comments on the funding, stating:

“Yes, this is a large facility, but looking at our growth rate, it’s something that we will need to look at again in a reasonably short period of time, believe it or not.”

To learn more about Kabbage, check out its live demo from FinovateSpring 2013 where it debuted its QuickBooks Financing Platform.

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SmartAsset Brings in $5.2 Million in Series A Financing Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, SmartAsset

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The team at SmartAsset, a company that aims to answer consumers’ complex financial questions, has been busy lately. Not only are they preparing their 7-minute demo for FinovateSpring next month, they also recently launched a retirement planning tool, and this week announced they just closed on $5.2 million.

The Series A financing round was led by Javelin Venture Partners. Denis Grosz, SV Angel and Brendan Wallace, founder of Identified, also contributed.

SmartAsset plans to use the round to grow its New York-based team by around a dozen new employees and expand its platform’s capability to give users more control of their financial future.

To see SmartAsset’s newest tech and meet the innovators behind the platform, don’t miss its live demo at FinovateSpring.

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Credit Karma Brings in $85 Million in Financing Led by Google Capital

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma, Funding

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What do Lending Club, Survey Monkey, and Credit Karma have in common? Answer: they’ve all received financing from Google Capital.

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That’s exactly who led Credit Karma’s most recent $85 million financing round. Other investors include:

    • Tiger Capital 
    • Susquehanna Growth Equity
    • Ribbit Capital

TechCrunch reports that, of the $85 million in total funding, $60 million is going directly to Credit Karma, while the remaining $25 million is going to provide liquidity to shareholders and employees.

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This round brings Credit Karma’s total funding to $118.5 million for its B2C-play credit score reporting and management platform. In the future, it seeks to be the Kayak for financial services and is looking to partner with banks to be a recommendation engine to help consumers better manage their debt.

Credit Karma last demonstrated at FinovateStartup 2009, where it debuted its Debt Manager.

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SocietyOne Garners $5 Million in Series A Round from New Westpac Bank Fund, $3.5 Million from Other Investors

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, SocietyOne

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Australia-based P2P lending company SocietyOne announced earlier this week that it received its first round of funding, which totaled $8.5 million. 

This series A round comes from Reinventure, Global Founders Capital and private investor Justin Reizes.

The most notable of these investors is Reinventure, which is a new venture capital manager funded by Westpac Banking Corp. According to the Financial Review, Westpac is believed to be the first bank in the world to take an equity stake in a P2P lending organization. 

Managers of Reinventure, which contributed $5 million to SocietyOne’s $8.5 million round, say they are keeping the new fund at arm’s length from Westpac Bank. Despite the distance, Westpac hopes the investment will help it to gain insight into SocietyOne’s proprietary algorithm that assess the creditworthiness of borrowers.

Founder and CEO Matt Symons says that the funding will allow the company to accelerate its growth rate because it will:

    1. Enable it to offer more borrowers a better deal
    2. Give more investors access to attractive fixed income asset classes

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SocietyOne’s platform, which won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2012, connects creditworthy borrowers with investors looking for better rates of return.

To see SocietyOne’s award-winning demo, check out the video here.

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Payoneer Lands $25 Million Series D Funding Round Led by Susquehanna Growth Equity

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Payoneer

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Cross border payments company, Payoneer, whose aim it is to simplify global commerce, announced yesterday that it received a $25 million boost.

The funding round was led by new investor Susquehanna Growth Equity. Existing investors also contributed:

    • Carmel Ventures
    • Greylock IL
    • Vintage Venture Partners
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The New York-based company plans to use the funds to:

    • Accelerate its product roadmap
    • Expand into new verticals and markets
    • Increase sales and marketing investments
    • More actively pursue acquisitions

Prior to this round, Payoneer received $8 million in Series B, $4 million in Series A, and $2 million in Seed funding. Combined, this brings the company’s total funding to $39 million.

Check out Payoneer’s live demo video from FinovateAsia 2013.

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Tradeshift Raises $75 Million, Plans to Open Office in Tokyo

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Tradeshift

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Further enforcing the trend of small business tools in fintech, online invoicing company Tradeshift announced a $75 million round of funding.

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The new installment comes from Singapore-based Scentan Ventures, which Tradeshift now claims as a partner.

The San Francisco-based company has global offices in Copenhagen, London, and Suzhou and plans to use the funds to expand to Asia and open an office in Tokyo. This is a large step in its stated mission of “connecting every business on the planet.”

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Tradeshift, which counts 500,000 businesses connected on its platform, differentiates itself with a dynamic discounting service that gives buyers a discount for paying their suppliers early.

Tradeshift demoed at FinovateEurope 2012. Watch its demo video here.

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ZenPayroll Brings in $20 Million in Series A Funding from General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, ZenPayroll

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ZenPayroll, a company that makes it easier for small businesses to pay their employees, announced yesterday it has been granted funding.

The San Francisco-based startup brought in $20 million in Series A funding from investors General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins. The new installment, combined with the more than $6 million it received in December of 2012, brings the company’s total funding to just over $26 million.

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It plans to use the funds to build new features and create add-ons to existing features, such as:

    • Increase payroll automation
    • Help employers build stronger bonds with employees
    • Help employees better understand their finances

This news comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of ZenPayroll’s participation in FinovateSpring in April. To see its newest development in action, get your ticket here.

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UK-Based Card-Linked Offers Company, Birdback, Raises $2.4 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Birdback, Funding

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Adding to the flood of funding this month, card-linked offers company Birdback recently announced $2.4 million dollars in venture funding.

Passion Capital led the round, followed by:

    • Paul Nikkel
    • Luke Johnson
    • Playfair Capital
    • #1seed

The UK-based company will use the round to retailers and financial institutions. Users in the UK, France, and Brazil will have the first opportunity.

To learn more about Birdback, check out its demo from FinovateEurope 2013.

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BankBazaar Pulls in $13 Million from Sequoia Capital & Walden International

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BankBazaar, Funding

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BankBazaar, a company that provides unbiased rate quotes on loans and insurance products, today announced that it received funding of $13 million. Investors include Sequoia Capital and existing investor, Walden International.

This newest installment, combined with the $6 million the company received from Walden in 2011, brings the India-based company’s total funding to $19 million. It plans to use the funds to enhance its mobile platform and educate consumers on the benefits of its service.

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According to Adhil Shetty, BankBazaar CEO, there is increasing demand for products in the online loan market:

“Even in the slowing market, online loan market is growing at 90%, while the overall loan market is growing at 15%.”

BankBazaar demoed at FinovateAsia 2012 where it debuted its Real Time Credit Processing Platform.

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Finovate Alumni Raise $825 Million in 2013, Up 79%

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Affinity Solutions, Apprenda, Azimo, Bill.com, BillFloat, Cardlytics, Check, Clover Network, CoverHound, Credit Karma, CurrencyFair, DeviceFidelity, Doxo, Dwolla, ERN, Fenergo, FinanceIt, Flint Mobile, FTRANS, Funding, Heckyl Technologies, Jemstep, Kofax, Kony Solutions, LearnVest, Lendio, LendUp, Meniga, Moven, Narrative Science, Numbrs, On Deck Capital, OpenCoin, P2BInvestor, Payfone, PayNearMe, peerTransfer, Personal Capital, Ping Identity, Prestadero, Prosper, Q2ebanking, Receivables Exchange, SafetyPay, SeedInvest, Socure, SoMoLend, Spreedly, SumUp, Swipely, Taulia, TradeHero, Tradeshift, TransferWise, True Office, Trustev, Tuition.io, Wealthfront, Wipit, Xero, Zooz

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Cheers to a new year! After ringing in 2014, we wanted take a look back at the capital raised by Finovate alumni in 2013. It was quite a year, with alums pulling in $825 million, $365 million more than in 2012 for an increase of about 80%.
2013 funding summary:
    • 62 companies raised $825 million
    • Q4 had the most capital, with a total of $294 million raised by 17 companies (more than half by Xero, which landed $150 million). 
    • October was the busiest month, with $177 million raised (mostly Xero’s $150 million)
    • May was second highest with $91 million raised by 7 companies
2012 comparison
Last year Finovate alums took in almost twice as much as 2012, when 44 Finovate alums collectively raised $460 million. The chart below shows the quarter-by-quarter comparison for both years.
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Quarter 1 — blog post
More than $155 million raised by 14 companies
January — $57 million raised by 6 companies
February — $56 million raised by 5 companies

March — $42 million raised by 4 companies


Quarter 2 — blog post
More than $205 million raised by 15 companies
June — $81.7 million raised by 6 companies
May — $91.5 million raised by 7 companies
April — $32 million raised by 2 companies

Quarter 3 — blog post
More than $171 million raised by 22 companies

July — More than $63 million raised by 8 companies
August — More than $26 million raised by 6 companies
September — $82 million raised by 9 companies
Quarter 4
More than $294 million raised by 17 companies

October— $177 raised by 6 companies
November — More than $87 million raised by 7 companies
December — More than $30 million raised by 6 companies

Note: Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

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Trustev Brings in $500k from Notion Capital, Adding to the $3 Million it Garnered in October

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Trustev

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European fraud-fighting company Trustev made an announcement yesterday that further proves the increase in demand for fraud prevention security platforms. After receiving $3 million in seed funding in October, the Ireland-based company announced an extra $500k investment from Notion Capital.

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The startup, which processes an average of 2 million customer transactions per week for 60 merchant customers, will use the extra cash to increase the number of transactions it protects. By February, it plans to protect 10 million customer transactions per week, a 5x increase.

Additionally, by Q2 2014, it plans to bolster its service by not only protecting transactions, but also by guaranteeing the protection from fraud.

Trustev will demo at FinovateEurope 2014 in London. To come and see the action live, get your ticket here.

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